CONTAINS SPOILERS. 'Girl Becomes Maidservant' is the intriguing title of this by-the-numbers Cinderella story. Alva Rosengren is the daughter of a well-to-do Stockholm family. Hoping to find herself, and to make her own way in the world, she goes off into the countryside and gets a job as a housekeeper to the Allards, a rural family. The master of the house is Karl-Axel, played by an actor well into his fifties. Alva, on the other hand, is played by an attractive actress in her twenties, so I naturally assumed that the Allard household would have a young man Alva's age (presumably Karl-Axel's son) who would be Alva's love interest. Some hope! She falls in love with the squeaky Axel, who is a big wheel hereabouts but who is also older than the actor who plays Alva's father.
There's some rather lumpen comedy relief, provided by the actress who plays Hildegard, the Allard family's cook who is built along the dimensions of a Swedish meatball. Karl-Axel has a brother Algot, roughly his own age, who has acquired a wife Laura: as with Karl-Axel and Alva, the wife is young enough to be the husband's daughter. (What is it with those Swedish blokes? Is it something in the glögg?) Sister-in-law Laura is meant to be very unpleasant, but I'd rather spend a cold Nordic evening with her than with Alva. All the 'plot twists' in this movie are about as subtle as the Northern Lights, but not nearly so beautiful. There is some nice exterior photography, though ... but the pace of the 'comedy' sequences makes this movie slow viewing indeed. Yumpin' yiminy! I'll rate this movie 3 points out of 10, mostly for the performance of attractive Hjordis Petterson as the sister-in-law, and Ay tank Ay go home now.
There's some rather lumpen comedy relief, provided by the actress who plays Hildegard, the Allard family's cook who is built along the dimensions of a Swedish meatball. Karl-Axel has a brother Algot, roughly his own age, who has acquired a wife Laura: as with Karl-Axel and Alva, the wife is young enough to be the husband's daughter. (What is it with those Swedish blokes? Is it something in the glögg?) Sister-in-law Laura is meant to be very unpleasant, but I'd rather spend a cold Nordic evening with her than with Alva. All the 'plot twists' in this movie are about as subtle as the Northern Lights, but not nearly so beautiful. There is some nice exterior photography, though ... but the pace of the 'comedy' sequences makes this movie slow viewing indeed. Yumpin' yiminy! I'll rate this movie 3 points out of 10, mostly for the performance of attractive Hjordis Petterson as the sister-in-law, and Ay tank Ay go home now.